Sisera and the girl from Kashmir

I’ll admit that I’ve always been a little squeamish about the story of Jael driving a tent peg through Sisera’s skull. Yet she is immortalized in Deborah the Prophetess’ triumph song in Judges chapter five.

24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,
her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 At her feet he sank,
he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell–dead. (NIV)

I thought about it when I read the article on BBC today of a teenage girl who took desperate measures to save her parents lives and herself from marriage by rape. I had to admire her bravery. Yes it’s a violent story, but how much violence without justification is going on in this world minute by minute? And how terrible for a young girl to be forced into her position. Read about it. And pray for her protection, and the protection of her family.